For now, the gap between ninth-ranked Hawai'i and the rest of the Western Athletic Conference volleyball teams appears vast with the exception of New Mexico State, which swept the Rainbow Wahine here two weeks ago.

For the sake of Hawai'i's postseason prospects, it might be better to gauge the gap between the 'Bows and the best in the NCAA, not Fresno State, the WAC opponent UH plays today at 5 p.m. at Stan Sheriff Center.

Top-ranked, unbeaten and defending NCAA champion Penn State swept Hawai'i in the season opener two months ago. It has swept every opponent since — seven of them ranked. The 59 points the Rainbows earned Aug. 29 remains the most any team has scored against PSU.

UH has gone 16-2, with wins over sixth-ranked Washington and 11th-ranked Minnesota and losses to 10th-ranked UCLA and WAC co-leader NMSU.

The Nittany Lions are out-hitting opponents .395 to .066, with only one starter under .400 and All-American Christa Harmotto a mind-boggling .522. They are also out-blocking foes by an outrageous 202-72 margin.

The Rainbows lead their opponents, too, but only by 100 points (.282 to .180) and 15 blocks (145-130). Freshman Kanani Herring is the only starting outside hitter over .260.

If the 'Bows hope to make an impact in the postseason, which begins in five weeks, they need to close the gap above and bury everybody below while fighting NMSU for a WAC title. While Hawai'i has not had trouble winning against the rest of the WAC, it has hardly dominated.

Friday's sweep of San Jose State was a microcosm of its roller-coaster WAC season. The Rainbows blew the Spartans out in the opening set, then allowed them to creep closer and closer in the final two.

"When you win easy you think it's going to continue that way and it's hard to play that way all the time," coach Dave Shoji said Friday. "It shouldn't be hard, but it seems to be hard for us.

"We need to make the players be aware that they have to focus for an entire match. They know that it's been hard to play focused for 1 1/2 hours. We have lapses of concentration."

If the Bulldogs (5-13, 2-7) can make Hawai'i look as vulnerable, the prognosis for the postseason is not good. A successful volleyball season is usually a steady climb, not a series of surges and lurches against teams that can't crack the Top 200.

Players seem to have less trouble concentrating in practice, which start at 6:30 a.m. this season. Scrimmages at the end are almost always lively, loud and very focused. But focus has been hard to find in the WAC and whenever it strays, opponents begin believing Hawai'i is beatable, though UH has lost to a conference opponent only seven times in its 13-year WAC history.

"We have to stay mentally in it," UH setter Dani Mafua said. "It starts with staying focused on every contact instead of just letting it go by. ... It's always about now. Staying consistent."

Fresno State comes in with a new coach — former Nevada player Lauren Netherby-Sewell — and six-match losing streak. Fresno-area freshmen Baylee Platt and Brianna Clarke anchor the offense and FSU has already won as many matches as all last year. The Bulldogs are 0-42 against Hawai'i, but took a set off the 'Bows last year.

Shoji would hate to see that happen again.

"I'd like to be more mistake-free against Fresno," he said. "As the (SJSU) match went on, the first touch was not a quality touch. Once the setter is in a bad position, consequently the hitter is in a bad position. We're just making too many errors on touches two and three. You can't play flawlessly on every touch, but we can do a better job on not ending rallies with errors."

Netherby-Sewell coached Hofstra the last two years, guiding the program to a conference title and its first NCAA Tournament victory. Aside from Hawai'i, no WAC team has won an NCAA Tournament match since 1991.